Feminists, often criticized for taking the world too seriously, now have something to laugh about. In The Technology of Orgasm, Rachel Maines—independent scholar and outspoken feminist—provides readers with a titillating and often hilarious account of the rise and fall (as it were) of the vibrator as a medical tool for the treatment of hysteria.

Maines begins with a scholarly history of "hysteria" as a medical, and eventually psychological, diagnosis. Next, she applies her skills as a museum consultant and archivist to describe the evolution of the electric vibrator at the turn of the century. Finally, she discusses her findings with a feminist lens, providing one explanation for why an instrument apparently so clearly designed for sexual use could be marketed for decades as a labor saving device for a medical treatment.